Functional Karate: Iain Abernethy Seminar

15 Sept 2008

Iain Abernethy Seminar

I went to Iain Abernethy Seminar yesterday at Brighouse near Leeds. At the end of the seminar I also bought Iain’s 2nd Kata Bunkai DVD with Naihanchi and Bassai kata analyses. From the content of the seminar and previous articles he’s written on Naihanchi I expected to see some pretty brutal applications for this kata, but the Bassai section caught me by surprise. I hadn’t any idea of some of the neck wrenches and (in particular) the nasty arm manipulation techniques he’s described.
As the review on the cover describes, the DVD has wall-to-wall content and is very good value for money. I’m not sure that the Seisan/Hangetsu one will be important to my current needs, since the shito-ryu Seisan is so different to that of other styles. The Pinan series DVD may be worth buying for the progression from basic and core techniques through to more elaborate fighting methods, rather than diving in the deep end, but I’m not familiar with the Pinan katas of course.
Whilst writing my message to Iain (asking about local training in KBS), I acknowledged that I should have spoken to J or I about a private training session in order to cover the content I want to. This should be next on my list of activities after training with BR. B has offered to get together sometime this week and I’m really pleased about that, the difficulty I need to overcome now is how to find a good venue. Possibly an Ashton squash court will do?

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About Mike

Though he studied Judo for five years as a junior, it was not until 2001 that Mike began training in Kusano-ha-Shitoryu Karate with Paul Ferris (at that time 5th Dan and Chief Instructor of Kenshikan England).

Mike was awarded his 1st Dan in 2004. and the rank of Shidoin-Ho in 2005. He taught classes in traditional Karate weekly during 2006-2008 and is still in contact with some of his students and fellow training partners from Kusano-ha.

Mike trains regularly with other martial artists and focusses on the practical applications of Karate for self defence purposes.

Introduction to Functional Karate

Developed from Chinese boxing and Okinawan wrestling systems, Karate was originally called just "Te", meaning hand. It is likely that Karate's original pioneers were well educated and respected people such as law-enforcers and the bodyguards of dignitaries.

The meaning of the term "Kara-te" was changed from "Chinese hand" to "Empty hand" in the early 1900s and, in a modified form, the art was introduced to the Japanese school system as a way of developing fit and healthy, disciplined students. It was this transition from the backyards of Okinawa to the schools and dojo of Japan - and ultimately the western world - which ensured Karate's survival as an art, but relegated many of its most effective techniques and training methods to obscurity.

Modern trends for reality-based martial arts are now helping to boost the profiles of those karate practitioners who look closely at their own art, are not afraid to question tradition and who have discovered the brutal effectiveness held within.

In this blog I put into words some of my training notes and also I include links to other karate-ka who are helping to bring functional Karate back into the world, albeit with modern training methods.